Tag Archives: language learning tips

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Celebrate our 5th birthday with our top 5 learning tips!

On 16 May 2013, busuu.com, the world’s largest online language learning community, will celebrate its 5th birthday!

It has been a fun and exciting journey over the past 5 years, and we are now joined by over 30 million users worldwide, learning up to 12 languages with busuu.com.

en-happybirthday

 To mark this momentous occasion, we have compiled our Top 5 language learning tips!

Here are the top 5 busuu.com learning tips to help you find fresh motivation: 

  • Set a goal - Easily track your learning progress with My Goal to see how often you should study each week to reach your aim.
  • Have a ‘foreign language’ day - Immerse yourself in the culture of the language you are learning – for example, watch a movie in the original version, listen to songs or cook a typical meal.
  • Read a newspaper or watch our Live Units – Pick out an interesting topic and write a review about it. Your desire to express your opinion will give you extra motivation!
  • Talk to native speakers – This is an essential part of learning. Not sure who to talk to? Try out busuu-talk and have a conversation with a native speaker!
  • Be brave – Everybody makes mistakes when learning a foreign language, so help out others by correcting their posts. They will do the same for you!

 

Feeling inspired?

As it’s our birthday, a very special occasion, why not complete our special occasions learning unit “I wish you…” and test out your language skills today!

Complete unit now!

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Learn vocabulary even faster!

To become comfortable with new words, practise by using the word in your writing, speaking and everyday thoughts.

The more you use and think about new words, the better you can remember them. In order for a word to become a part of your vocabulary, you have to use and hear it in several ways.

The key to building up a good vocabulary is to be curious and to keep practising what you have learned.

This is why we have introduced CheckpointsCheckpoints – a simple new feature that will help you to learn new words and phrases and remember them!

 Checkpoints

 

In addition, here are our top tips for you to remember new words:

  1. Practise saying the word and listen to others to get the pronunciation right.
  2. Try to learn the word and its meaning the first time you see it.
  3. Practise writing the word and its definition often.
  4. Take advantage of Checkpoints, our new tool to help you to remember new words.
  5. Vary the words: Try to make them plural and use them in different sentences.
  6. Repeat the word many times in your mind!
  7. And ALWAYS have fun learning new words!

CheckpointsCheckpoints is only available for Premium membersPremium! Upgrade to Premium today to take advantage of this great new feature!

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Update: busuu.com collaborates with NGO in Cameroon

As you probably already know, in September 2009 we won the European Language Label for innovative projects in language learning.

The award was compensated with 1,500 EUR, which we donated to the Cameroon Association for the Protection and Education of the Child. The money was used to construct a classroom for underprivileged children.

Children school

The work has now been finished, and we are very proud that we could make our small contribution.

Christmas is the perfect time to help others, so if you are also interested in supporting the impressive work done by CAPEC, you can find more information here. You can collaborate in several ways like sponsoring a child for a school year, financing summer programs for the orphans, or even volunteering in their school as a teacher.

We already wish all of you, the team of CAPEC and the little children from their school a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Are you still looking for the perfect Christmas present?

Christmas is coming soon and you are still searching for the perfect Christmas present?

For sure some of your friends are currently learning a new language and would also love to improve their skills with busuu.com!

Why don´t you surprise them with a 3 months premium language course as a Christmas present?

Christmas garden

You just have to go to our Christmas voucher page and purchase the gift online. Then your friends will receive an email (on the day you decide) and you can even print out a Christmas Gift Card to put it under the Christmas tree! As soon as they log on to busuu.com, they will automatically become a Premium Member for 3 months!

We are sure that your friends will love this very special Christmas present – so get your Christmas gift here!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas in advance, and enjoy language learning with busuu.com!

PS: Of course, you can also give this Christmas present to yourself! ;-)

 

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Tips to learn a new language online (part 2)

Here is the second installment of our blog series on language learning tips.

2. Set aside some time each day for your language learning and see how quickly you can progress.

We all know that learning a language can seem like an epic task. Most language learners study their language in one or two hour blocks a few times a week. While at times this can be effective, a more effective and accessible way is to set aside 30 minutes each day to dedicate to your language learning.Regular exposure to the language is vital. The average person learning a language by self-study will benefit the most from 30 minutes of study per day, at least five to six days a week.

That said, studies also show that 30 minutes is about the maximum time most people can focus on learning tasks without taking a break.

You can do this by making a realistic lesson plan for yourself, trying to include some if not all of the of the language learning skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening in some form. busuu.com’s methodology embraces all of these skills and allows you to incorporate each one into a readymade study plan in the form of our learning material. So why not use the busuu.com learning material, which conveniently takes about 30 minutes to complete, and see how your level will increase in no time at all!